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Precise Calculation of the Optical Constants of Self-standing Nanoporous Silicon Layers

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Abstract

The precise knowledge of the values of the optical constants (index of refraction, n, and extinction coefficient, k) for nanostructured porous silicon (nanoPS) is a necessary condition to predict the behavior of any optical and photonic devices based on this material. With this objective in mind, a simulation computational program based on the matrix method was used to determine the values of the optical constants in the visible range of self-standing nanoPS films from their experimental reflectance and transmittance spectra. Furthermore, the spectral absorption coefficient (α) was determined from the spectral k values, which motivated to the determination of the values and type of bandgap (direct or indirect) for different porosities.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Mr. Luis García Pelayo and Dr. Valentin Constantin Nistor for technical support. This work was partially supported by Fundación de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (FUAM) and Minia University, Egypt.

Funding

This research was partially funded by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, FPI-UAM grant and by the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, Missions Section under Egyptian Joint Supervision Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Minia University, 61519, Minia, Egypt

    Rehab Ramadan

  2. Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Rehab Ramadan & Raúl J. Martín-Palma

  3. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Raúl J. Martín-Palma

Authors
  1. Rehab Ramadan
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Contributions

R. Ramadan: Conceptualization (equal); formal analysis (equal); funding acquisition (equal); investigation (lead); methodology (lead); project administration (supporting); visualization (lead); writing – original draft (equal); writing – review and editing (equal). R. J. Martin-Palma: Conceptualization (equal); formal analysis (equal); funding acquisition (lead); Software (lead); project administration (lead); resources (lead); supervision (lead); visualization (supporting); writing – original draft (equal); writing – review and editing (equal).

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Correspondence to Rehab Ramadan.

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Ramadan, R., Martín-Palma, R.J. Precise Calculation of the Optical Constants of Self-standing Nanoporous Silicon Layers. Silicon 15, 4391–4395 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02358-x

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